Virgil Sollozzo
Virgil 'The Turk' Sollozzo was a top narcotics man who became associated with the Tattaglia family. Biography Known as the Turk because of his background, and also listed as being very good with a knife, Virgil Sollozzo had already gained a reputation as a top narcotics man before he came back to the United States in the 1940s. He was seen as an ideal associate who would provide money for a family and not leak information to the police if he was caught, provided his wife and children back in Turkey were taken care of. Making deals Sollozzo arrived in New York and enlisted the aid of the Tattaglia family for his new heroin business. He also secretly had the support of Emilio Barzini, who assisted him in his business, and was the mastermind behind his scheme to dominate the narcotics business. He then went to the Corleone family to obtain money and protection from the police and courts. Vito Corleone refused, however, feeling that the drug business is bad for the neighborhoods. Corleone sent Luca Brasi to 'Bruno Tattaglia's nightclub, under the pretense that the enforcer was unhappy with his family and sought better employment. Tattaglia saw through Brasi, but arranged for him to meet Sollozzo later one night. Brasi had a knife plunged into his hand and was then garotted by an assassin. Sollozzo's men then attempted to murder Vito Corleone, assuming that Vito's oldest son Sonny, who seemed to want to go into the heroin trade, would take over the family. To cement the deal, Sollozzo also kidnapped the family consigliere, Tom Hagen, brought him to the deserted Joe's Diner in Brooklyn, and perusaded him to make a deal with Sonny. Rise and fall When they succeeded only in wounding Vito, Sollozzo sent hitmen to the hospital, where the guards were off duty thanks to strings pulled by Captain Mark McCluskey, a police captain on his payroll, and tried again to kill Don Corleone. However, Vito's son, Michael visited his father and, noticing the lack of guards, informed the family. With the help of visiting baker Enzo Aguello, Corleone managed to scare off the assassins at the front door. Sollozzo alerted McCluskey of the men still guarding Corleone, and the police captain, enraged, arrived at the hospital and punched Michael in the face, breaking his jaw, but was restrained from further action by Tom Hagen. Sonny Corleone was furious, and ordered the death of Bruno Tattaglia. Recipe for revenge .]] Soon thereafter, Sollozzo, under McCluskey's protection, met with Michael in Louis Restaurant. Although Michael was frisked before the meeting, a revolver had been planted on the back of a toilet in the lavatory of the restaurant. Michael excused himself and went to the bathroom to retrieve the revolver. He then returned: for a brief moment, everything was normal; then Michael drew the gun and shot Sollozzo in the forehead, killing him instantly. He quickly shot McCluskey in the neck, and then again in the forehead. This action forced Michael to leave the country for Sicily until the heat of the Five Families War died down. It was also evidence that was used against Michael by both the Senate Commitee in the hearings against the Mafia, and later by Carlo Tramonti of New Orleans to deface Michael's image in front of the Commission. Personality and traits In the video game In the video game, Virgil Sollozzo buys a warehouse in Midtown and begins drug fronts in each of the districts of New York City. After the incident at the hospital, Sonny Corleone orders a series of crackdowns on Sollozzo's businesses, which sees the destruction of his warehouse and drug fronts located in derelict buildings across the city. Real life sources Virgil Sollozzo could be loosely based on gangsters Vito Genovese and Carmine Galante. Virgil Sollozzo was treacherous and murderous like Vito Genovese, and both Genovese and Galante had a vast narcotics network set up to import heroin into the United States. Behind the scenes Virgil Sollozzo's murder by Michael Corleone is a reference to the murder of mobster Joe Masseria. Masseria was killed in a Coney Island restaurant while he had a meeting with his underboss, Lucky Luciano, who masterminded the assassination. Shortly before Masseria was killed, Luciano had excused himself to go to the bathroom, which he later used as an alibi against his suspected involvement. Notes and references Sollozzo, Virgil Sollozzo, Virgil